Secret rice

Hi all

Obviously photography is not one of my strong points so please excuse my 'artistic foodie photos'...

Anyway, most of the recipes on here are for introducing solids to toddlers however I was chatting to a girlfriend who has trouble getting her 2 year old to eat vegetables and lets face it, who doesn't. Tyler, my 2 year old is a terrible eater. He is just like his mum and could literally survive on bread, rice and pasta! So we had to come up with a way to give him a little roughage as well. Hence, Secret Rice! Tyler absolutely loves rice so I just add whatever vegetables I have in the fridge to his rice and he eats it!

Keep your Qubies in the cupboard as this is not suitable to freeze but it is a great recipe to give to your toddler when you want to start introducing lumpier food as the vegetables are either grated or chopped finely.

Secret Rice
Suitable for 10 months onwards

1/2 Cup Basmati Rice (low GI rice) or which ever rice you prefer
1 Cup water
1 tablespoon grated carrot
1 tablespoon finely chopped cauliflower (as it's white they can't see it!)
1 tablespoon finely chopped broccoli
1 tablespoon corn
1 tablespoon peas
1 tablespoon butter

Place all the ingredients into a saucepan over a low heat. Pop on the lid and allow the water to be absorbed by the rice - this takes about 15 mins. Allow the rice to sit with the lid on for another 10 mins then cool and serve. Enjoy!

Variations: use what ever vegetables you like in what ever quantities you like. Occassionally I add some "Kecup Manis" to give it a slightly sweeter flavour.

If you have any clever ways to give your little darling vegetables that you'd like to share please send me an email: alexandra@miinkimoop.com.au